How Many Times Does the Bible Say "Thus Saith the Lord"?

As my wife Tess and I were reading together during our daily devotions the Book of Jeremiah, we noticed how often “thus saith the Lord” is repeated in that book. She asked me to do a study on it. Here it is.

“Thus saith the Lord” appears only in the Old Testament. It occurs exactly 415 times in 413 verses and 161 chapters. In two verses it’s repeated twice. In the 39 Books of the Old Testament, it occurs in 19 books. The Book of Jeremiah wins hands down with 148 occurrences! After that Ezekiel has 126 occurrences and Isaiah has 35 occurrences.

By the way, this study and all the Bible studies on my website use the King James Version which I believe to be the most accurate of all English translations. Notice I wrote, “most accurate” but not perfect as some think it to be. I don’t believe any translation can be perfect. Why do I believe that? I had 11 years of experience working as a professional translator/proofreader from English to Japanese. Something is always lost in translation due to cultural differences.

Book	Number of times
Exodus	10
Joshua	2
Judges	1
1 Samuel	3
2 Samuel	5
1 Kings	13
2 Kings	20
1 Chronicles	4
2 Chronicles	8
Isaiah	35
Jeremiah	148
Ezekiel	126
Amos	13
Obadiah	1
Micah	2
Nahum	1
Haggai	4
Zachariah	18
Malachi	1

It’s interesting that Jeremiah, the least heeded prophet, has the most occurrences of thus saith the Lord.

Jeremiah 7:26 Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.

And after him, the prophet Ezekiel, was not heeded. The children of Israel didn’t like him very much either, and especially their rulers.

Ezekiel 3:7 But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.

May the Lord help us all to listen to His Word, and heed and obey it for our own good and the good of our loved ones and associates!